'“Finn! Finn you damn brat! Come here this instant!” An infuriated roar reached me over traffic, street music and disjointed cursing, the general hubbub of a busy New York afternoon.


It was hardly the way one would expect the most powerful apex predator in the world to be addressed  Then again, if one did not know me well, one would hardly expect to find me pushing my way through busy crowds with all the enthusiasm of a fleeing pick pocket either.

With a well placed elbow and expletive here and there I blended in neatly with many of the other disenfranchised alternative folk. Pink falls were attached to the shoulder length dreads I'd carefully cultivated over the past months and my black pleather skirt, boots and top had more buckles and straps on them than I'd had blood dinners. I bristled with studs and domes and other decorative hardware that added up to one heck of a tripping hazard.

This was potentially something of a problem for hot on my trail was a rather large muscle bound fellow who drew appreciative glances as he apologized through the same crowds I pushed my way through.  He was Lord Leonard Chevalier to most, Leo to friends and 2IC to me.

I ran on and on, not at the super speed I was capable of, but at a slow, human lope. It amused me to do this through the crowds of people that thronged the busy streets because it forced Leo to do the same. At any moment either of us could have sped up to a speed that would have made it impossible to detect us with the human eye, but attracting attention by running though a crowd of people and then disappearing in front of them tends to cause the sort of consternation we devourers like to avoid.


Leo and I were playing at being human. The reason for this was two parts killing time and one part keeping an eye on the vampire population. Vampires are sneaky little beggars. They also happen to be our sole food source. A food source that sometimes respects and venerates us and sometimes rises up and tries to kill us. If our relationship were condensed to a social network status, it would be 'it's complicated.'


“Finn!” Leo sounded mad, just a hair away from furious. He was gaining on me too. I could tell by the way his panting breath was drawing closer. It was a nice touch. He didn't need to pant. Leo could run all day and all night at the speed we were going and not break a sweat. He'd told me to stay by his side, but I didn't like staying by his side, I liked exploring the streets and shopping in the stores, following my nose wherever it took me.


“Leo!” I shouted over my shoulder, putting on just a hair more speed. I knew the thing that would really be annoying him was the fact that if we weren't pretending to be human, he'd have outrun me in a split second. That's my Leo, bigger, better, faster, stronger.


“Slow down!”


There was a peculiar urgency in his voice that made me turn to look at him. It was a mistake. My feet kept going, right off the curb and into the side of a bus. I felt a slight tingle as I bounced off the metal exterior, leaving a Finn sized imprint in the side of the massive transit vehicle.

“Ooops.”

I was grabbed up in a vice like grip almost immediately. The bus had slowed me down enough to allow Leo to catch up without arousing suspicion. He looked around, panicked as human eyes stared at the pair of us and at the bus.  “Its the aluminum,” I tried to explain to the dumbstruck crowd. “Cheap Chinese stuff not made in America. Also, miracles.” I flashed a careful smile, bright enough to be charming, not so wide as to show off my fangs.


Leo had my collar very tightly in his fist and he lowered his head to speak into my ear with a low, stern growl. “When I tell you to run, you run as fast as you can, understand? We'll meet by the park.”


I nodded. The crowd's surprise was starting to turn to awe and fear. Typical human reaction. First comes shock, then comes awe, then comes fear, then comes chasing with pointy sticks. We weren't in any real danger of course, we could have turned on them and ripped though them with our fangs, turning every witness in the area into shishkehuman in about as much time as it might have taken one of them to slice and dice a salad. But that wasn't the done thing, and we, as creatures of habit, were not about to do it.


“Go!” Leo commanded. He let go of my collar and I took to my heels at my true speed. As I propelled myself into the far distance I heard a faint gasp in the background that was really the combined shouts and shrieks of a crowd of people seeing two strangers disappear into thin air before their very eyes.


Leo would be worried, but I wasn't too concerned about the exposure. Officials would put it all down to mass hysteria, if they knew what was good for them. I didn't know what we'd do about the me sized shape in the bus. That was someone else's problem. I was Domina, not a panel beater.


I reached the park first. Leo wasn't there. Thirty seconds later I was starting to get worried, but he showed up within a minute. “Where were you, slowpoke?” I asked the question from the branches of the tree where I'd secreted myself.


“I flattened out the hole in the bus first,” Leo explained. He did not look pleased. His jaw was clenched in a way that couldn't have been good for his teeth and his gorgeous eyes were narrowed at me in irritation. He'd been given to irritation a lot more lately, and my repeated suggestions that perhaps he was on his period had not helped overly.


“Good idea,” I smiled charmingly. “You always have the best ideas, Leo.” I tried buttering him up. It wasn't a completely successful attempt.


“Let's go back to the hotel,” Leo said curtly. “I will deal with you there.”


I didn't like the way he said 'deal with'. Leo only had one way of 'dealing with' me, and I never enjoyed it. “Come on Leo, it was an accident. It could have happened to anyone.”


“But it didn't happen to anyone, it was something you did,” he said, waggling his finger up towards me in a way that would have made it look very much as if he was lecturing a tree to the casual onlooker. “Something foolish and careless. Now come down out of that tree and we will see about your behavior.”


He was quickly regaining his native sense of calm which was a good thing, but I knew that didn't mean I was off the hook. “Leo,” I whined, sliding down the tree. “It was an accident.”


“It was no accident that you were running from me when you shouldn't have been,” he reminded me, as he took hold of my hand. It wasn't a romantic gesture, it was just his way of making sure I didn't run off again. “You could have gotten hurt. You could still get others hurt.”


I shrugged. “Others have themselves to look out for.”


He scowled as we started walking back to the hotel. “When did you get selfish, Finn?”


“I am not selfish!” I stomped along beside Leo, my brows drawn down sharply as I frowned with all the force I could muster.


Leo did not respond to my denial and we walked in silence. I tried tugging away from him once or twice, but there was no pulling away or refusing to go back to the hotel with him. Leo was usually several steps ahead of me when it came to heading me off at the pass.


We had a penthouse suite at the top of an eminent hotel. I liked to travel in style and Leo usually indulged me. Days and nights spent cavorting on a super king sized bed decked with the finest silk sheets worms could spin was nothing to sneer at. Still pouting, I tossed myself onto the aforementioned bed and was forced to grab for the bedpost to prevent myself from sliding right off the other side.


“Finn,” Leo was shaking his head as he spoke. In the past, the action would have caused a cascading of long dark hair, but he'd had it cut short and now it was the clean shaven hard line of his jaw that caught my eye. Leo was stunning. Human women would often stare at him when we were out and about, especially when he was dressed as he was now, in a dark polo shirt that left his biceps and muscular forearms exposed to the sun's rays. I'd told him he should grow a mustache again, but he'd demurred, electing instead for a rakish, nigh perpetual five o'clock shadow. “Are you even listening to me?”


I shook my head, then nodded it quickly. “Yes, listening of course. Yes.”


“No you weren't,” he said, crossing the room and taking hold of my ankle. I squealed as he yanked me across the bed and flipped me face down. I'd made the supreme tactical error of wearing a relatively short skirt and it was swept up out of the way moments before his palm landed square across my lower cheeks. I bucked with the pain, but he had my ankle firmly in his grasp and he repeated the treatment with much more enthusiasm than I thought the situation really warranted.


“Dammit Leo, let me go!” I hollered at the top of my lungs, kicking out with my spare foot. It's not usually considered to be the done thing to try and kick one's Deux Demain in the face, but if you ask me, once the spanking starts, all bets are off.


Leo dodged the kick easily and leaned in, pinning both my legs as he continued to spank my ass raw. “Stop it! Stop it now!” I commanded, but he ignored my orders and continued slapping away as if his life depended on it, as if his heart could only beat when he was slapping my ass.


“You're getting out of control Finn, and I don't like it,” he boomed over my commands for leniency. “You're turning into a right little shit.”


I stopped squealing and turned my head to look at Leo. He didn't usually speak to me that way. He was usually very warm and kind, even when he was whipping my behind, but at that moment he seemed very irritated indeed. Was he getting sick of me? “I'm not any different than I ever was,” I asserted.


“You are,” he said, dealing another smack that made me cry out. “You've always been a brat, but you used to care about people. Remember the boy you rescued from me?”


I did remember, thinking back on it. A hazy memory of a skinny kid with no friends. I couldn't even remember his name now. Gray? Gary? “Yeah, I remember him,” I told Leo triumphantly, as if remembering proved anything at all.


“You could have killed people today, but you were too busy thinking you were funny to care,” he growled at me. “The old Finn would never have done such a thing.”


A little tendril of guilt sprouted in my belly. It must have shown on my face, because Leo nodded determinedly. “Exactly. You, Finn the protector of humans could have killed several today. You know people were hurt on that bus?”


I shook my head slowly. Leo wasn't spanking me anymore, but I wished he would. I wished he'd just shut up and hit me and take the guilt away, but the sprout was quickly growing into a small shrub of disgrace.


“You're changing Finn,” he said heavily. “You've been indulged past the point of forbearance.”


“What's that supposed to mean?”


“It means that ever since your memory returned and you've taken your place as Domina you've been forgetting what makes you you.”


I narrowed my eyes. “You preferred me weak and without memory. That's what you really mean.”


“No,” he knelt on the bed above me, running a hand through his hair. “Though you did have your charms then,” a wolfish smile flashed across his face before fading into consternation. “But you're not the Domina you could be, Finn.”


Ouch. That hurt. I pulled away from him, shoving my skirt down around my thighs. “What are you trying to say, Leo?” I had a fair idea of what he was saying, but I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to vocalize the terrible, traitorous thoughts that had been percolating in his mind for so long.


He gave me a cautious look before spitting out the secret. “I think its time someone else lead the Devourers. Someone less consumed with their own amusement.”


There it was. “Well I'm Domina and I don't agree.”


Leo looked at me carefully and I could tell he was trying to work out how to get around me. “Listen Finn, I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to see anyone else hurt either.”


“What do you want Leo?” I snapped the question. There was little point in him pussy footing around the issue. Neither of us were getting out of this discussion unscathed.


“I want you to step down gracefully.”


Anger began to bubble up to the surface. “And who would lead then, Leo, you perhaps?”


He gave a curt nod. “If the others agreed.”


My voice was dangerously quiet. Dangerously calm. “The others would agree, wouldn't they, Leo?” I knew Leo well enough to know that he would never do anything this ballsy if he didn't know he had support. Leo was never rash, he was always calculated. “This is one hell of a coup, Leo. I always knew betrayal was on the cards, but I didn't expect it from you.”


He flinched as if I'd struck him. “It's not like that, Finn.”


“Isn't it?” I glared at him. “Why not just leave me in the middle of fucking nowhere if you were just going to screw me over?”


“I'm not screwing you over. I'm doing this for you.”

“Oh, you're undermining me and stripping me of my powers for my own good, oh, okay.” Sarcasm oozed out of every pore of my body as I squirmed around to stare up at him from my back. Some people might have a problem looking angry when prone – not me.


Leo leaned over me, one hand on either side of my head, dominating me with the sheer size and power of his body. “I am doing this for your own good,” he spoke slowly and with total certainty, each word falling with definite authority.


Caught in his convincing gaze, I almost believed him. But I enjoyed the power that came with being Domina, and I was not ready to sacrifice it so easily. I shook my head curtly, making Leo sigh. “Do not make me do this by force, Finn.”


“What will you do, tie me up and drag me back to Alaunus to be voted down by the council?”


“If I have to.” Determination made his expression like solid granite.


“Come on, Leo,” I tried appealing to the side of him that loved me and indulged me in almost all things. “I can be better, why don't you let me try?”


“You've had several years, Finn, and with each passing trip around the sun you've become worse. More destructive, more self centered. The power is corrupting you.”


“It is not,” I said lamely. Denial was not an argument that would stand up against Leo.


He looked at me, his handsome features weighted with sadness. “Finn, you need to step down for a time and rediscover what it was that made you Domina in the first place. You're not serving the devourers and you're not serving yourself.”


It would have been less painful if he'd taken a knife and stabbed me with it. Leo was my mainstay, my port in the storm – but now he was the storm and I had no port. I scrambled backwards away from him, crossing my arms over my body in a motion of self protection. Trying to hide the emotions surging through me, I nodded blankly at him.


“I know you're not going to like this, but it is necessary.”


He was patronizing me even more than usual and it incensed me. “Don't fucking tell me what is and what is not necessary, you damn traitor,” I spat.


“No.” Leo intoned the word heavily. At first I thought he was disagreeing with me, then I realized he was marking the end of his patience with that solemn and final word.


He moved towards me slowly. Leo was capable of moving so fast that even to me, he was a blur. But he rarely used that speed. He slid towards me slowly, his eyes dark. It was far more intimidating than it would have been if he had merely grabbed me up as I knew he was capable of doing.


“Don't touch me!” I hated the way my voice broke with a crackle of fear. Leo would never harm me, but he'd damn sure hurt me if I got too far out of line.


“Turn over and present yourself,” he said softly.


“Leo, no.”


“Turn over.” He swirled a finger at me.


With a sense of deep hopelessness and dread, I did as he bade me, switching over to my hands and knees. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable strike. It came swiftly, one brutally hard swat that sent me skidding forward towards the wall, my bottom flaring with pain.


I shrieked and burst into tears of shame, crumbling into the bed. I'd known once what it was to be weak, but it had been a long time since I'd truly been subject to harsh discipline and the sharp reminder shocked me.


Bundled into Leo's arms, I curled up, hiding myself away from him. I didn't want his comfort, even though his warmth surrounded me and was already leeching away the pain. “Don't fight me, Finn,” Leo murmured against my hair. “Please don't fight me.”

***

Leo tried his best to play down the tensions after the announcement of his intention to replace me as the leader of the devourers, but he had to have known that it was always going to be a fight. Even if parts of his argument made sense, I could not abide the idea of being stripped of my powers. I'd been Lidran's lowliest member for long enough to know how much better it was to have power than to have none. The idea of once more being at the mercy of a hierarchy terrified me.


“I know the idea of stepping down scares you,” Leo tried to start the conversation I'd been avoiding yet again. Days had passed since he'd suggested I gracefully give up leadership. The same number of days that had passed since I'd spoken to him. “But I promise you it will not be as bad as you imagine.” I rolled my eyes silently and ignored him. He continued speaking regardless. “The vote is to take place at the next full moon. Perhaps sooner. If you step down before then, you can avoid the vote.”


I had no intention of avoiding the vote. I wanted to look each and every one of the council in the eye as they betrayed me. My mind was already whirling with thoughts of the vengeance I would take if they dared strip me of my powers. If they thought I was bad now, just wait until they crossed me. A small giggle escaped my lips, but that was my only response.


Leo's eyes narrowed. “You laugh at this?”


“I do,” I replied, having already broken my silence.


“This is not a joke, Finn.” There was tension in every line of his body. He was worried, and for good reason. I was not someone to be crossed lightly.


“Says you, Leo. I find it very humorous.” I bared my fangs in a nasty grin. “Don't go getting wound up now Leo, this is nothing, imagine all the pressures you'll be under when you are the Domina.”


“Dominant,” he corrected me.


“When you are Domina,” I said, ignoring his correction, “I expect there will be many more trying things to deal with besides me.”


Shaking his head, Leo shrugged his blazer on with easy elegance. “I am going to feed,” he said, glaring at me vehemently. “I shall return presently.”


“Toodles,” I said, feigning indifference.


He left the room and I began pacing back and forth. Truth be told, I was doubting myself a great deal of late. Was Leo correct? Was I unfit to lead? I did not think so. I had not directly harmed anyone, indeed, the coven had been experiencing unprecedented calm of late. There had been no further attacks by the vampires, no unrest in the ranks. So what if I misbehaved occasionally? What was the point of having power if one didn't use it? Certainly I'd had no complaints from the council. No, Only Leo.

I stalked out onto the balcony and looked out over the glittering lights of the city. The scent of burning oil and humanity rushed my senses. With every car, every breath, the city produced its own dirty, sweaty smell. Plenty of devourers would have avoided this place. As a rule our kind shuns humanity. We have about as much use for humans as a shark has use for plankton. They are simply too far down the food chain to matter in the slightest. I still enjoyed humanity, in spite of what Leo had said. They were so fragile, so easy to harm, but I'd never hurt a human intentionally. I inhaled deeply and for one wild moment, wondered what it would be like to simply leap out the window and take a place amongst the peoples of the world. I could conceivably walk among them hidden for years. I'd blended into civilization before, why not do so again?


No. There would be time to run away, time to lose myself again later. For the moment, I had a battle on my hands. A slow smile spread over my face as I realized what it was I must do. Leo had been ahead of me up until this point, but I no longer needed to play by conventional rules of consideration. If he was going to try to depose me, I was going to do everything in my power to stop him.


Without packing a single thing, I took myself downstairs, hailed a cab and had myself transported to the airport where our plane was, as always, ready for departure. It would be a pity that Leo would miss the flight and perhaps the vote, but that was hardly my concern.

Two hours later, I was on my way back to France, leaving Leo stranded in New York. It wasn't exactly cricket, as the British saying goes, but cricket and other sporting pursuits must often take a back seat to necessity.